Method of or process of cooking spaghetti and similar foods



Patented July 5,1927. v

UNITED STATES 1,634,332 PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES MOGOWAN, .13., OF MERCHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO GAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OR PROCESS OF COOKING SPAGHETTI AND SIMILAR FOODS.

No Drawing.

-My invention relates to methods of cooking, and more particularly 'to the method of cooking gultinous food substances such, for instance, as spaghetti, macaroni, vermicelli and similar foods, packed or enclosed and hermetically sealed in the very containers in which they may be later s ipped for distribution to the trade.

Heretofore, as I am advised, in canning spaghetti and similar foods, the spaghett1 has always been cooked in open receptacles,

as in pots or kettles, in a suitable quantity of water. When the spaghetti has been fully or completely cooked, it is taken from the receptacle, washed in clean Water, cooled, and placed in a pile or mass-on a suitable table. From this pile or mass small quantities (handfuls) are usually manually separated from the ile or mass of cooked spaghetti, then welghed and then placed in the cans or containers. In some instances the cans may be put on a Weighing machine and enough cooked spaghetti may then be placed in the can, to bring the welght of the contents and can up to a'predetermined point. After the proper weight of cooked spaghetti has been placed in the can, a cooked sauce, which includes fats, such as butter or cheese, and may contain tomatoes, is also put in the cans with the spaghetti. The can is then hermetically sealed, then sterilized and cooled. It is then ready for delivery or shipment.

In cooking spaghetti in the manner above 88 described, great difliculty is experienced in obtaining a uniform product. Too much cooking (over-cooking) or cooking at too high a temperature changes the character of the. product. While the temperature. to 40 which the spaghetti is subjected during the cooking ste may be fairly well controlled, the other actor, over-cooking, presents a more difiicult problem since it depends on the opinion of the cook, and because delays are often met with in weighing the cooked spaghetti and putting it into cans. A second batch or quantity of spaghetti may be cooked before all of the previous batch has been put into cans and it may therefore become necessary to allow the second batch or lot to remain subjected to a cooking temperature a little too long, or remain too long in the presence of water.

It is one of the objects of my invention to remove these factors which vary the char- Applieation filed March 23, 1926. Serial No. 96,878.

acter of the product, by placing the spaghetti, while dry, in the cans, adding the sauce, hermetically sealing the cans, then subjectin the contents of each can to the same coo ing temperature and for the same length of time. This object is readily accomplished by the practice of my method described below because I eliminate the step of transferring cooked spaghetti to cans, and the possibility of delay of transferring to the cans the second batch or quantity of cooked spaghetti.

In practicing the old processes or methods above outlined, substantial differences in the finished product contained in different cans are readily observable, although the spa- 'lietti in' such cans may have been taken from the same mass or pile on the table, for as long as, and throughout the time that the spaghetti stands in the pile, after it has been washed, and on the table or tray before it is put in cans, it will continue to .absorb water, so that the spaghetti which was last taken from the heap or pile will contain more moisture. or water than that earlier removed from the same pile. For that reason the contents of various cans from the same pile or source or lot will vary in the Water content.

Moreover, as the moisture is thus being absorbed by the spaghetti while it is in a mass or pile on the table, it is cooling and the stickiness or tackiness of the spaghetti is ever increasing. To prevent the strands .of cooling spaghetti from sticking together and from clinging to her hands, in transferring it from the table to the can, and to the weighing machine, the operator frequently sprinkles the pile with clean water, for that prevents it from sticking to her hand andthe scales, for wet spaghetti does not readily adhere to a wet surface. So long as the flour paste, formed in cooking the spaghetti, is thin and fluid it is slippery.

But this very manipulation of the spaghetti in putting it into the cans adds water to the pile and variably increases the amount of water which is constantly being absorbed by the pile or mass of spaghetti on the table, causing the contents of different cans to substantially vary from each other. The last quantity placed in the cans or tins from the same batch or pile will thus contain still more water than that first transferred to the cans, for the water sprinkled by the opera.-

tor over the spaghetti is unevenly absorbed by the different strands in the pile of spaghetti. In the process as hereby practised,

' in canning spaghetti, these factors produce substantial variations in the contents of the different tins or cans, although the spaghetti may have, been from the same lot or batch.

It is the object, therefore,'of the present invention to obtain a uniformity hitherto unattainable in the quality of the canned product whether it be taken from the same or different batches; to obviate and dispense with all manual treatments or transfers of cooked spaghetti; to shorten the time required for the thorough cooklng of the spahetti; to prevent contacting strands or engths of spaghetti from sticking or adhering' to each other; and to keep each strand *intact and entire and free from attachment I or lot of dry spaghetti to be cooked is so tested before cooking it.

The proper weight of dry spaghetti is then put into the tins, cans or other con in the tins or cans, the cans are hermetically tainers in which they are to be placed on the market, together with a definite quantity of hot water, as determined by the tests above referred to, and also with a certain and definite amount of hot partly cooked sauce therefor and other seasoning or condiments desired. The amount of water placed in the can, including that in the sauce, is that which has been determined for that particular batch or lot of dry spaghetti and is exactly the same amount in each can for that lot. After the dry spaghetti, water, sauce and other seasoning have been thus placed sealed and in thatcondition are immediately transferred to a suitable heater, cooker or oven where the contents of the cans are cooked for a definite length of time, as for instance, an hour.

The step of cooking per se may be carried out in several ways. The temperature of the oven maybe merely a cooking tem perature and the cans may be allowed to remain in the oven for a time suflicient to thoroughly cook the spaghetti and to complete the cooking of the sauce, after which the sealed containers may be transferred to a suitable sterilizer where they are subjected to a relatively intense heat for the short time required to insure the sterilization or destruction of, any living organisms therein. Or the cans may be subjected to a single heating at a higher temperature than has been above referred to as cooking temperature and to effect both the cooking'and the sterilization in a single operation, or after the heat of the cooking oven has been maintained long enough to, effect thecooking of the contents of the cans contained therein,

the temperature of the ovenmay be raised to a point sufiicient to accomplish the step of sterilization.

These three modes of treatment are fully.

within the aim and scope of my invention.

But whatever process of thus cookingand ghetti in the presence of hot water becomes gummy or sticky and if the strands are not frequently moved so that they will slide with respect to each other, they will adhere to each other and settle down to the bottom of the can as a sticky, stodgy mass of paste.

If, however, the cans are substantially continuously agitated or shaken or rolled during the cooking process, or so frequently as to cause the strands of spaghetti to move and slip and slide over each other, while cooking, before the paste has time to thicken sufficient to cause the strands to stick together, the identity or unity of the strands will be kept unimpaired, and the strands will remain separate and unattached to each other after the spaghetti has been cooked.

- ghetti is preferably kept in constant agitation, but it is possible to carry out my improved process by effecting an intermittent agitation of the spaghetti providing the in-.

terval of rest between periods of agitation or motion be brief and not long enough to per-, mit the strands to stick together. For practical purposes, such an intermittent. operation I regard as a substantial continuous substantial agitating, shaking or rolling, and any of such machines so operatmgare sultable for imparting to the spaghetti 1n the cans, during the cooking operation, a movement of agitation suflicient to prevent the adherence of the independent strands of spaghetti in the cans to each other, and prevent the formation of a pasty mass in the bottom of the can. Any such suitable agitating means may be installed in the oven or cooking apparatus and arranged to traverse the cooking apparatus in a predetermined time to agitate or shake the cans during the cookin operation to prevent the strands from ad er n to each other.

The adherence of t e strands of spaghetti to each other is due to the fact that spaghetti is composed practically entirely of dried flour and, in cooking it, a flour paste forms on the surface of the strands of spa-' ghetti. If, during the cooking of the'contents of the sealed cans, the cans are not agitated or shaken this flour paste on the strands of spaghetti causes them to adhere to each other, and a pasty gluey mass also forms at the bottom or lowest part of the can or container. When so shaken or agitated, however, the pasty film on the outside of the strands does not have time to set for the pasty film on the strands is being c0ntain extent scraped or rubbed off by the passage thereover by other strands and the paste is kept in a fluid, slippery conditlon.

In this way then are the strands kept intact and separate one from the other and the cooking is perfectly effected.

Moreover, this agitation of the strands or pieces during the cooking operation shortens the time required for the cooking step and also imparts a finer color to the finished product when a sauce, such as a tomato sauce, forms a part of the contents.

The color, for instance, of tomatoes, is soluble in the fats contained in the sauce. When the containers are agitated the color is evenly distributed throughout the sauce, impartin to the sauce a much brighter color than is o tained by the practice of the old processes. Moreover, the agitation of the sauce causes more of the flour to be 'se arated from the strands with the result t at the sauce becomes thicker than that produced in other ways except perhaps where flour or starch is an ingredient of the sauce and the color is evenly distributed throughout this thicker sauce. opened, therefore, the contents present a better appearance, both as to color and texture of the sauce than when the spaghetti is cooked in the manner heretofore practised. I am aware that it has heretofore been When the can is proposed to cook certain food roducts in cans hermetically sealed and t at, during such process of cooking, the cans have been rolled through the oven or other heating apparatus for the purpose of preventing the contents from sticking to the tin and burning, such process being exemplified in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,365,928, dated January 18, 1921, but the main object of such rolling of the cans, as set forth in said patent, is to prevent the contents from .sticking to the interior of the cans and a consequently discoloring of the product. This consideration, however, has little applicability to my improved process. The products which I cook in sealed containers, have entirely different qualities or properties, for in cooking, the pieces of spaghetti would melt down, as it were, and form a real paste which causes the pieces to adhere to each other and stick and form a pasty gummy mass at the bottom of the can if the cans were not agitated.

The purpose of the rolling step of the said patent is to prevent the contents from burning on to the inside of the tin, or in other words, to prevent the contents from remaining on the same spot on the tin. In my process the-agitation is to keep the contents slipping and sliding over each other so that the paste on the strands does not have time to set and glue the strands to each other or to separate from the strands and settle at the lowest part of the can as a flour paste. My invention is, therefore, clearly distinguished from that disclosed in the above patent since the purpose and function of the agitation is for an entirely different purpose, due to the nature of the material being cooked, and is not particularly for the purpose of preventing'the contents sticking to the inside of the tin and burning.

It is to be understood that my improved process above described is particularly adapted to the cooking and canning of such foods as spaghetti, macaroni, vermicelli, noodles and such other similar glutinous foods as tend in cooking to forming a pasty or gluey mass in the presence of hot water, and I have used the word spaghetti to typify all such glutinous foods, the separate pieces of which, by being kept substantially constantly in motion, slipping over each other, during the cooking of the same, are maintained entire, free and unattached to the other pieces of the same in the containers or tins.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. The method of cooking spaghetti, which consists in putting dry spaghetti, water and partly cooked sauce into a suitable eontainer, the amount of free water and water in said sauce being the exact amount of water necessary to properly cook the constrand of spaghetti entire, free and unattached from the other strands in sald container, and then after'such cooking is substantially complete subjecting the container and its contents to a high temperature to sterilize the contents of said container.

2. The method of cooking spaghetti, which consists in putting dry spaghetti, water and partly cooked sauce therefor into a suitable container, hermetically sealing said container, subjecting the sealed container, with its contents, to heat suflicient to thoroughly cook the contents and subjecting the container during the cooking of the contents thereof to an agitation to distribute said sauce throughout the contents of the can to evenly distribute any coloring matter in the sauce evenly throughout the' sauce, and the sauce over every portlon of the surface of the strands of spaghetti and to .matter in said sauce is evenly thickenthe sauce by adding thereto an increased amount of the gluten ingredient of said spaghetti rubbed and scraped off the surface of said strands of spaghetti by the movement of said strands over each other and taken up by said sauce, and for keeping the strands in motion'with respect to each other, whereby each strand of spaand unattached from the other strands in said container and each strand is completely cooked in and coated with said sauce.

3. The method of cooking spaghetti,

which consists in hermetically sealing in. a

container, a suitable amount of dry spaghetti, together with a sauce therefor and ghetti in said can remains slippery and tree water, heating, the same to a temperature suflicient to cook the contents of said container, and keeping the strands of spaghetti in said container in substantially constant motion with respect to each other throughout the cooking of the same whereby the strands of spaghetti are prevented from adhering to each other, the sauce is thickened and evenly distributedv over all the strands throughout said container, and an colorin istributed throughout said sauce and spaghetti.

'In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my'hand this 22d day of March, 1926.

J AMES MoGOWAN, JR. 

